“Doublefont” Teakettle Inkwell

1. Form and Function

• Type: A figural ink bottle, commonly known as a Teakettle Inkwell due to its shape, but is a highly prized variant called a “Doublefont” ink because it features two distinct ink reservoirs.
• Purpose: The dual reservoirs allowed a user to keep two different colors of ink (e.g., black and red, or black and blue) readily accessible on their desk without requiring a separate inkwell.
• Primary Vessel: The main body is shaped like a flattened, rounded teakettle or chamber pot. This is the primary ink reservoir.
• Secondary Vessel: The second, smaller ink bottle, which is cylindrical in shape, is fused directly onto the flat top surface of the main teakettle body. This is the secondary ink reservoir.
• Openings: Each reservoir has its own distinct, small mouth opening at the top, finished with a crude lip for holding a cork stopper.

1. Material and Manufacturing

• Material: Aqua Glass (Aquamarine or light blue-green glass). This color is typical of early American glass bottles and indicates the presence of natural iron impurities in the silica (sand) used to make the glass, a common trait before industrial purification processes were widely adopted.
• Manufacturing Technique:
  • Mold-Blown: The main and secondary vessels were individually mold-blown, meaning liquid glass was blown into an iron or wooden mold to create the shape. The seams and lack of perfect symmetry are characteristic of this technique.
  • “Welding”: The two separately formed, hot bottles were then pressed and joined together at the glasshouse immediately after coming out of their molds — a technique sometimes described as “welding” or “fusion.” The juncture between the two pieces is visibly uneven and heavily worked, showing the manual, hot-glass manipulation required for this double construction. This difficulty in manufacturing contributes to the rarity of the “doublefont” style.

III. Historical Context

• Period: This style of mold-blown figural ink bottle dates primarily from the mid-19th century (circa 1840s–1870s) in the United States.
• Rarity: The “doublefont” is significantly rarer than the single teakettle inkwell. The process of attaching two separately blown bottles while both are still hot was challenging and often resulted in defects or breakage, leading to fewer surviving examples.

This “doublefont” ink is a excellent artifact illustrating the ingenuity of glassworkers to combine function with novelty during the period of growing demand for inexpensive, mass-produced writing accessories.